The Role of Race in Physical Assault and Verbal Harassment

Abstract: Nightclubs provide entertainment for many young adults including DJ‟s, club promoters, dancers, and music enthusiasts. Hip Hop and Electronic Dance Music have emerged as popular scenes within the nightclub industry to cater to many diverse people. However, there are risks involving physical and verbal assault, some of which having to do with cultural diversity and race. Existing research from Contact Theory claims that to ensure positive inter-racial experiences, contacts or interactions should not be competitive, should be sustained rather than episodic, and the setting in which they occur should confer equal status to all. Our analysis reveals support for this claim. We examined the role of race in physical and verbal assaults using interviews with 51 participants who frequently attend nightclubs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Our analysis shows that violence, both inter-racial and intra-racial, is complicated by racial makeup, gender relations and masculinity, and the particular atmosphere of a nightclub. Almost all verbal and physical assaults included male victims and offenders. The results also show that physical assaults were most common within the same race (intra-racial), particularly at “Asian Only” events. Inter-racial physical assaults between two or more different races most often occurred at clubs where the majority of the attendees were from a particular race and the victim was an “outsider.”
Verbal assaults were most commonly an inter-racial offense and generally included racial slurs and “you don’t belong here” attitudes. The results show that nightclub events with a dominating racial group create major risks of physical and verbal assaults to club-goers. Additionally, the contact that takes place between races at a nightclub event is short and competitive and increases the occurrence of inter-racial assaults.